While the world awaited delayed results from Monday night’s Democratic Party caucuses in Iowa, 2020 presidential candidates on Tuesday headed to New Hampshire, where new polling shows that Sen. Bernie Sanders has “a commanding lead.”
The 7 News/Emerson College Polling survey of New Hampshire Democratic voters from Monday night showed Sanders (I-Vt.) at 32% support, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Vice President Joe Biden at 13%, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 12%.
The survey—the second of a continuous eight day tracking poll leading up to next week’s vote—has a margin of error of +/- 4.3%. As a statement explained Monday night, the latest results represent “a shift” from Sunday, “as Sanders gained three points, Biden and Buttigieg lost one point, Warren gained one point, and Klobuchar gained four points.”
A majority (54%) of those polled said the most important factor in selecting a candidate for the Democratic nomination is their chance of beating President Donald Trump in November. By contrast, 46% intend to select a candidate who closely aligns with their views.
The poll has shown a “trend” of Sanders doing well with younger voters in New Hampshire. Among those under 50, Sanders has 40% support compared with Warren at 15%, Klobuchar at 10%, Buttigieg at 9%, and Biden at just 7%. However, Sanders also does well with the over-50 crowd; he leads the field at 23%, followed by Biden at 18%, Buttigieg and Klobuchar at 15%, and Warren at 11%.
A victory in New Hampshire would build on Sanders’ performance in Iowa. In the absence of official results—some of which the state’s Democratic Party is set to make public by 5 pm ET—the Sanders campaign on Tuesday morning released a portion of its internal figures, which suggest the senator likely won the Midwestern state.
“The majority (87%) of New Hampshire Primary voters say the events of Monday’s Iowa Caucus will not have an impact on their vote, while 13% say the results of the Caucus will impact who they vote for,” according to the statement from 7 News/Emerson College Polling.
New Hampshire’s primary on Feb. 11 will be the nation’s second nominating contest for this election cycle. The primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina along with the caucuses in Iowa and Nevada are considered key indicators of candidates’ potential going into Super Tuesday, which will fall on March 3 this year.
Working around Trump’s Tuesday night State of the Union address as well as expectations that the Republican-held Senate will soon end the impeachment trial by acquitting the president, the 2020 candidates are slated to travel throughout New Hampshire over the next week in hopes of wooing Democratic voters.
Sanders intends to deliver a response to Trump’s speech from Manchester around 10:30 pm ET. The senator also has rallies, town halls, and other campaign events planned for Manchester, Milford, Derry, Rochester, and Keene before the state primary next Tuesday.